Professor Mamlock (1938 film)
Encyclopedia
This article is about the 1938 film. For the play upon which it was based, see Professor Mamlock (play)
. For the film by Konrad Wolf
, see Professor Mamlock (1961 film)
.
Professor Mamlock (Russian
: Профессор Мамлок) is a 1938 Soviet drama film
, directed by Herbert Rappaport
and Adolf Minkin.
surgeon, does his best to ignore the political crisis of the Weimar Republic. He is greatly troubled by the political tendencies of his son, Rolf, a passionate communist who is determined to resist the strengthening Nazi Party by all means. When the Nazis seize power and brutally crush all opposition, Mamlock is forced to leave his clinic for Jews are no longer allowed to practice medicine. He is dragged through the streets by SA men who emblazon his doctor's robe with the word "Jew". Mamlock, broken and humiliated, attempts suicide but fails. As he recovers, he hears an SA rally outside the hospital. He carries a speech calling on the people to resist, having finally realized that his political apathy was a mistake. The SA shoot him dead. Rolf, who escaped a deportation to a concentration camp, becomes leader of a new resistance movement.
while in exile in France, at 1933. It was first performed in Warsaw's Yiddish Theater. Director Rappaport saw it in a Moscow theater and decided to adapt it to screen, albeit with considerable differences form Wolf's play: among others, portraying the protagonist being executed rather than committing suicide. The film is considered as the first ever made about the Holocaust. Principal photography took place in Leningrad.
In Britain, although Professor Mamlock was shown in private by the London Film Society, the British Board of Film Censors announced beforehand that the film would be rejected; Anthony Aldgate and James Crighton Robertson wrote that it was viewed as an "uncompromising assault on a point of German domestic policy." When the distributors presented the board with the picture on 12 May 1939 - in the hope that Czechoslovakia's occupation by Germany
would change the censors' position - it took two weeks to agree to bar it from the cinemas of the United Kingdom. Herbert Morrison
recalled that the ban "was given in the days when it was thought that you must not do anything offensive to Herr Hitler". The distributors then turned to the London County Council
, which allowed a screening; it took place in late August 1939. On 14 September, after the war broke, the BBFC reversed its decision, although it censored some scenes. The picture was released in February 1940. Member of Parliament John McGovern later alleged that "it is not for the Government to allow anybody to speak for the victims, just as they would not allow Professor Mamlock to be shown in this country before the war, but only later when it suited their own purpose." Due to pressure from the German embassy, Professor Mamlock was also banned in China.
When the picture premiered in New York, critic Frank S. Nugent wrote that the "...Long-overdue indictment of Nazi persecution of the Jews has arrived at last... It has come from Russia... that is beyond Hollywood's anxiety about the foreign market." The film was the runner-up for the Best Foreign Film Award in the 1938 New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Edward G. Robinson
later declared: "I would give my teeth to do an American version of Professor Mamlock, that great story of a Jewish doctor in Nazi Germany". Professor Hans-Jacques Mamlok, a German-Jewish dentist who immigrated from Berlin to America and claimed that Wolf's play was inspired by him, sued the picture's distributors for a compensation of 100,000 Dollars and demanded to remove the film from cinemas, claiming that it presented him as a communist sympathizer.Although no further information could be found on the suit, Mamlok obviously failed in banning the picture.
Several cities in the United States forbade showing Professor Mamlock. The Chicago
censors declared it to be "purely Jewish and Communist propaganda against Germany." Ohio
, Massachusetts
and Rhodes Island banned it as well. Annette Insdorf wrote that "what must have made American censors really nervous is that it is a political film that places its faith in Communism." Author Kenneth R. M. Short considered the film as part of the Soviet anti-German propaganda campaign that took place between Hitler's rise to power and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
. Patricia Erens also viewed the picture as having "a clearly communist message" but also as addressing the Jewish question directly, more than as merely a setting for expressing political ideals: "it clearly singles out Jews as enemies of the Third Reich".
In 1940, MP Sydney Silverman
claimed that the film was "achieving success as a medium of anti-Nazi propaganda", not only in Britain "but in the United States of America and other neutral countries as an instrument of propaganda on behalf of the Allied cause".
After the signing of the Pact in August 1939, Professor Mamlock was banned overnight also in the Soviet Union, along with all other anti-Fascist works; its removal from the screening schedule of the 1939 New York World's Fair
's Soviet Pavillion was interpreted in the American press as an attempt to indulge the Germans. The ban was lifted when the Soviet-German War began at 22 June 1941; Wolfgang Leonhard
recalled that it was re-introduced to cinemas already in the 23rd. the film was shown to Red Army
troops during the Battle of Moscow
. In September 1941, after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
, it was also screened in Teheran "with great success", according to Pravda
. In 1947, it was released in Germany.
Professor Mamlock (play)
This article is about the play. For the film by Herbert Rappaport, see Professor Mamlock . For the film by Konrad Wolf, see Professor Mamlock .Professor Mamlock is a theater play written by Friedrich Wolf at 1933...
. For the film by Konrad Wolf
Konrad Wolf
Konrad Wolf was an East German film director, son of Friedrich Wolf, brother of Markus Wolf....
, see Professor Mamlock (1961 film)
Professor Mamlock (1961 film)
This article is about the 1961 film. For the play upon which it was based, see Professor Mamlock . For the film by Herbert Rappaport, see Professor Mamlock .Professor Mamlock is an East German drama film...
.
Professor Mamlock (Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: Профессор Мамлок) is a 1938 Soviet drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
, directed by Herbert Rappaport
Herbert Rappaport
Herbert Rappaport , known in the Soviet Union as Gerbert Moritsevich Rappaport, was an Austrian-Soviet screenwriter and film director....
and Adolf Minkin.
Plot
Professor Mamlock, a successful and respected JewishJews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
surgeon, does his best to ignore the political crisis of the Weimar Republic. He is greatly troubled by the political tendencies of his son, Rolf, a passionate communist who is determined to resist the strengthening Nazi Party by all means. When the Nazis seize power and brutally crush all opposition, Mamlock is forced to leave his clinic for Jews are no longer allowed to practice medicine. He is dragged through the streets by SA men who emblazon his doctor's robe with the word "Jew". Mamlock, broken and humiliated, attempts suicide but fails. As he recovers, he hears an SA rally outside the hospital. He carries a speech calling on the people to resist, having finally realized that his political apathy was a mistake. The SA shoot him dead. Rolf, who escaped a deportation to a concentration camp, becomes leader of a new resistance movement.
Cast
- Semyon Mezhinsky - Prof. Mamlock
- E. Nikitina - Mrs. Mamlock
- Oleg Zhakov - Rolf Mamlock
- Vladimir Chestnokov - Dr. Hellpach
- Georgi Budarov - Willi
- Natalia Faussek - Mother Wendt
- Tatyana Guretskaya - Anni Wendt
- Pyotr Kirillov - Ernst
- Valentin Kiselyov - Werner Seidel
- Yakov Malyutin - SA leader
- Vasili MerkuryevVasili Merkuryev-Selected filmography:* The Return of Maxim * Professor Mamlock * The Vyborg Side * The Great Glinka * The Vow * The Battle of Stalingrad * True Friends * Twelfth Night...
- Krass - Nina Shaternikova - Dr. Inge
- M. Shelkovsky - Detective
- P. Sukhenov - SA man
- Boris Svetlov - Dr. Karlsen
- M. Tagyanosova - Nurse Jadwiga
- Yuri TolubeyevYuri TolubeyevYuri Vladimirovich Tolubeyev was a Soviet theatrical and cinema actor, a Hero of the Socialist LabourHis son, Andrei Tolubeyev, also became an actor.- Filmography :* The Return of Maxim * Professor Mamlock * The Vyborg Side...
- Fritz - Anna Zarzhitskaya - Hilda
- I. Zonne - Dr. Wagner
Production
German author Friedrich Wolf composed a theater play by the same nameProfessor Mamlock (play)
This article is about the play. For the film by Herbert Rappaport, see Professor Mamlock . For the film by Konrad Wolf, see Professor Mamlock .Professor Mamlock is a theater play written by Friedrich Wolf at 1933...
while in exile in France, at 1933. It was first performed in Warsaw's Yiddish Theater. Director Rappaport saw it in a Moscow theater and decided to adapt it to screen, albeit with considerable differences form Wolf's play: among others, portraying the protagonist being executed rather than committing suicide. The film is considered as the first ever made about the Holocaust. Principal photography took place in Leningrad.
Reception
According to Sovietologist Mikhail Morozov, the film was highly successful in the Soviet Union: "The whole of Moscow ran to the theaters... To see for themselves how the oppressed German workers all wore hats, real hats... Here, only Foreign Minister Molotov wore one."In Britain, although Professor Mamlock was shown in private by the London Film Society, the British Board of Film Censors announced beforehand that the film would be rejected; Anthony Aldgate and James Crighton Robertson wrote that it was viewed as an "uncompromising assault on a point of German domestic policy." When the distributors presented the board with the picture on 12 May 1939 - in the hope that Czechoslovakia's occupation by Germany
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
would change the censors' position - it took two weeks to agree to bar it from the cinemas of the United Kingdom. Herbert Morrison
Herbert Morrison
Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, CH, PC was a British Labour politician; he held a various number of senior positions in the Cabinet, including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.-Early life:Morrison was the son of a police constable and was born in...
recalled that the ban "was given in the days when it was thought that you must not do anything offensive to Herr Hitler". The distributors then turned to the London County Council
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
, which allowed a screening; it took place in late August 1939. On 14 September, after the war broke, the BBFC reversed its decision, although it censored some scenes. The picture was released in February 1940. Member of Parliament John McGovern later alleged that "it is not for the Government to allow anybody to speak for the victims, just as they would not allow Professor Mamlock to be shown in this country before the war, but only later when it suited their own purpose." Due to pressure from the German embassy, Professor Mamlock was also banned in China.
When the picture premiered in New York, critic Frank S. Nugent wrote that the "...Long-overdue indictment of Nazi persecution of the Jews has arrived at last... It has come from Russia... that is beyond Hollywood's anxiety about the foreign market." The film was the runner-up for the Best Foreign Film Award in the 1938 New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
later declared: "I would give my teeth to do an American version of Professor Mamlock, that great story of a Jewish doctor in Nazi Germany". Professor Hans-Jacques Mamlok, a German-Jewish dentist who immigrated from Berlin to America and claimed that Wolf's play was inspired by him, sued the picture's distributors for a compensation of 100,000 Dollars and demanded to remove the film from cinemas, claiming that it presented him as a communist sympathizer.Although no further information could be found on the suit, Mamlok obviously failed in banning the picture.
Several cities in the United States forbade showing Professor Mamlock. The Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
censors declared it to be "purely Jewish and Communist propaganda against Germany." Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and Rhodes Island banned it as well. Annette Insdorf wrote that "what must have made American censors really nervous is that it is a political film that places its faith in Communism." Author Kenneth R. M. Short considered the film as part of the Soviet anti-German propaganda campaign that took place between Hitler's rise to power and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
. Patricia Erens also viewed the picture as having "a clearly communist message" but also as addressing the Jewish question directly, more than as merely a setting for expressing political ideals: "it clearly singles out Jews as enemies of the Third Reich".
In 1940, MP Sydney Silverman
Sydney Silverman
Samuel Sydney Silverman was a British Labour politician and vocal opponent of capital punishment.-Early life:...
claimed that the film was "achieving success as a medium of anti-Nazi propaganda", not only in Britain "but in the United States of America and other neutral countries as an instrument of propaganda on behalf of the Allied cause".
After the signing of the Pact in August 1939, Professor Mamlock was banned overnight also in the Soviet Union, along with all other anti-Fascist works; its removal from the screening schedule of the 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
's Soviet Pavillion was interpreted in the American press as an attempt to indulge the Germans. The ban was lifted when the Soviet-German War began at 22 June 1941; Wolfgang Leonhard
Wolfgang Leonhard
Wolfgang Leonhard is a German political author, historian, and expert on Communism. He is the only living member of the Ulbricht Group.-Early years:...
recalled that it was re-introduced to cinemas already in the 23rd. the film was shown to Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
troops during the Battle of Moscow
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of...
. In September 1941, after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran was the Allied invasion of the Imperial State of Iran during World War II, by British, Commonwealth, and Soviet armed forces. The invasion from August 25 to September 17, 1941, was codenamed Operation Countenance...
, it was also screened in Teheran "with great success", according to Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
. In 1947, it was released in Germany.
External links
- Professor Mamlock on Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. - Professor Mamlock German poster.